Crossroads
by Mr Shinra
Summary: Belldandy is summoned to Yggdrasil to choose a temp. replacement for her position in the Goddess Helpline Office. New friends and old enemies mix as everyone's lives meet turning points, or 'crossroads'. Ch.9 errors Corrected. Ch.10 next!
1. A Serene Morning

"**Crossroads"**

**Disclaimer:** Ah! My Goddess/Ah! Megami-Sama is copyright of Kosuke Fujishima and is published through Darkhorse Comics. If you can read Japanese, you can also find monthly updates of the Manga in the magazine "Afternoon".

"_See you at the crossroads  
So you won't be lonely"_  
- Bone Thugs –N- Harmony

Chapter 1

* * *

The air is usually moist in the mornings, with dew drops falling off of leaves and being suspended upon the blades of grass covering the fields, here in the countryside of Chiba prefecture, Japan. Sometimes during the wet season there is a mist, or a fog which covers the bay area in a grey blanket, which is a junxposition of cleansing mental study and hazy loss of viability.

The cicadas hibernate during the early spring, so in their place are spring hojiro birds, chirping in the branches of trees and along the tall gates to old and mostly decrypt temples of Shinto and Buddhist faiths.  
However, in one off-path temple the birds dance about atop of gates and roofs of a temple restored by divine intervention; the blessings of a goddess and the spirits of the earth who answered a prayer to assist the temple in healing its wounds of time.

These birds are oblivious to events that will soon transpire... a blending of cultures and personas that very different paths have, for the time, crossed into a single walkway of destiny.

The birds chirped again when they saw the Rhinemaiden, the goddess of the present, the one who answered a simple wish nearly four years earlier.  
Her name is Belldandy, and on this normal seeming morning she greeted the birds with a polite hello and a smile; the birds chirped back happily before flying away to another building.

"It's always so quiet in the morning, such a peaceful setting," Belldandy said calmly, with a gentle smile across her face.

She stood silently for a moment, reflecting in the rising sunlight and distant hum of the city commuters.

Belldandy set down a large bottle, containing a unique blend of Tea, a tea which she would prepare for her errant boyfriend later on that day, in a short celebration, one which Belldandy and Keiichi Morisato had agreed upon. Speaking of which, the young man groggily walked outside to the side yard. His eyes widened from the rising sun and from another beautiful sight. A smile came across his face, a knowing smile.Belldandy turned and smiled back in equal serenity.

"Good Morning, Bell-chan, what are you doing out here?" Keiichi said.

"It's indeed a very pleasant morning Keiichi-kun; I am preparing that special tea for this evening." As she said this she smiled and tilted her head ever so slightly.  
Keiichi blushed slightly, and then smiled back. "Oh you're going to tease me before the day even starts?"

"Oh--oh I'm sorry Keiichi, I did not intend to--" Keiichi walked up to Belldandy and placed a finger on her lips. "It's perfectly alright; Bell-chan can call Keiichi whatever Bell-chan wants... I'm just saying... it's pretty early." Belldandy sighed and kissed Keiichi on his cheek.  
"Of course, silly me..." An idea sprung forth from her mind, "Keiichi?" She asked,

"Yes Bell-chan?"

"Why don't you go relax while I prepare breakfast?" Keiichi hugged Belldandy and looked into her eyes. "Don't you want help, it is after all our--" Bell held up a finger. "Keiichi I insist; go take a relaxing bath and I'll let you know when breakfast is ready."

"Alright, if you say so... I'll see you in a little bit then."

Keiichi let go of their hug and walked back inside. Belldandy hummed to herself as she walked in a different route to the pantry to gather spices and raw ingredients for breakfast.

Meanwhile, there was a pair of eyes watching the lovelorn couple from a safe distance, safe being farther away then Banpei DX could detect. The sly demonness who was known as Mara, laughed in a rather silly fashion, but she didn't rather care either.  
"So... they're having some sort of celebration this evening huh? This will be a great time to inflict awful, horrible luck on that blessed' Morisato!" "Hahaha," She laughed again to an invisible audience.

The slender figure pulled from a pocket a vial, that which held a purple liquid, a liquid which Mara, the demonness committed to ruining Keiichi Morisato's life, would be using for some sort of diabolical plot.

Mara vanished from the temple grounds and teleported herself to another part of the Chiba prefecture. "… However" she said to herself, "I need to send the bad luck higher around where the blessed' goddess temple is, so that I have a higher chance of success!" Mara then flew west towards downtown Chiba to work on her schemes. Trisha Nowata was a beautiful young woman, she was rising quickly in the corporate ladder, and at this moment she was exiting the limousine of a wealthy prospective client for her company, when suddenly she slipped. "Ahhh!" She cried out in panic. A busboy attending to the luggage hurled his-self towards the young lady, but he was too late as Trisha's high heel shoe went flying, and she fell into a puddle of muddy water on the curb of the Posh Upscale Restaurant. The black shoe flew past a few cars and struck an elderly Japanese woman in the side of her back. "Oh my God, This dress is ruined!" proclaimed Trisha as she got to her wobbly feet. The elderly Japanese woman walked calmly over towards the commotion

"Who threw this shoe at my aching back? I have to attend a chiropractor once a week already; this makes it 3 times a week now!" The old woman threw the shoe to the ground in anger as Trisha began trying to explain her actions, with wet drainage water dripping from her dress. Mara hung high above in the air, snickering and laughing. "This is great, I had not planned on the woman's shoe hitting another person, but this can only ADD to the horrible luck she will have now!" Mara laughed again as she flew off towards another unsuspecting target. "Soon, I will raise enough bad luck to strike!" She said to herself in earnest anticipation.

Meanwhile…again.

Skuld peered out from her machine shop in curiosity. "It's too quiet… I'd better check on Banpei." She murmured. Skuld hopped to her feet and walked out to the side garden where Banpei was currently sweeping away leaves.

"Banpei-kun! Where are you?" Skuld yelled, a little too loudly for the time of the morning in fact. Banpei stopped what it was doing and looked for Skuld.A motorized Robot standing around 4 feet tall approached the young goddess, giving Skuld a mischievous smile for a moment, before her visage turned to slight concern. "Banpei, have you sighted anything unusual since yesterday?"

Banpei's internal motors hummed for about two seconds before he swung his head back and forth.

"Are you sure? It's awfully calm around here… I'm going to double-up your security right now, sweep the entire temple and be on the lookout for anything unusual! Skuld Theta 12 Mark 2 Authorizations!"

Banpei accepted the coded command and began walking towards the entrance.

"That's more like it!" A sweet scent crossed her nostrils."…mmm, it smells like Onee-chan is making breakfast already!" Skuld smiled and walked back towards the kitchen with a bounce in her step.


	2. News That Follows Breakfast

"**Crossroads"**

By **Dark Nation**

-Chapter 02-

Belldandy reached for the eggs when she heard a loud noise.  
"Oh, what could that be?"

This was followed by another loud noise: Keiichi.

"Ahhh! What the… what are you doing here?"A much undressed Keiichi, clad in only a bathing towel ran out from his room.  
A moment later a confused looking Peorth appeared, the usual black undergarments with gravity defying belts hung errently in  
the air. She wisked away some hair from her face as her confusion quickly changing to laughter. She snickerd watching Keiichi  
duck out of her presence in embarrassment.  
A very sleepy Urd peered from her "Urd Castle" and upon determining that nothing was really the matter, slid the door closed again.

"Waking me up for nothing… blasted mortals…" she complained as she fell back asleep. Belldandy walked out to the hall and bowed politely.

"Oh Hello Peorth, what brings you down here?" Peorth whisked away some hair from her face and smiled.  
"Well, its nothing _too_ serious, but the Goddess Relief Agency needs you to pick out your official replacement, from a list of qualified gods and goddesses…"  
Belldandy's heart ached for a moment. "How long would this process take?"

"I imagine around a week in Earth's Time, maybe up to a month at most… and also,  
I came down to see how you all are doing, killing two loves with one arrow, right?"  
Peorth chuckled to herself as Belldandy clasped her hands together and smiled knowingly  
at the analogy to Cupid and Valentine's Day.

"Keiichi?" She called out.

"Ahhh, err… yes Bell-chan?" Keiichi said warily,

"After breakfast… and after you get…dressed dear, we need to discuss something with everyone."  
Keiichi blushed for a moment, realizing his continued state of near-nakedness. "Wait, is it something bad?"  
He quickly grabbed a blanket that luckily was lying nearby on the floor and covered his manhood.

Belldandy giggled a little. "Oh no, it's just something I have to do, but breakfast can come first."  
Belldandy walked back to the kitchen without waiting for an answer and began to sing to herself  
again like earlier in the garden. Keiichi sighed and started to walk back towards his room.

He stopped next to Peorth and motioned for her to get closer to him.

"Hmm?"

"Next time, you could wait until after I get some clothes on…"

"Moi Sherrie, it is nothing to be concerned over… you were quite the male specimen when I arrived, yes?"  
Peorth looked down for a split second to indicate her meaning.  
At the realization of what she was talking about, Keiichi ran towards his room and shut the door very quickly,  
turning an interesting shade of red.

"I got to do something about goddesses appearing at times like these…He complained silently.  
In the hallway, Skuld walked up to Peorth, and upon comparing her bust size to Peorth's,  
Skuld stuck out her tongue and walked back into her room.  
All Peorth could do in that moment is laugh to herself.

Urd was not someone to wake up in the morning…firstly it was nigh-impossible without serious repercussions to the culprit's body and state of mind,  
secondly she was usually a heavy and late sleeper, and finally it's is just not something that should be done.

However, Skuld had the unique ability to wake Urd up at any inopportune moment, simply by walking into her room.  
Skuld did such a thing, and in that moment, an eye opened, following intently on the young goddess' path.

Skuld was merely looking for some electronic component that she had left in Urd's Castle a week earlier and had no intention of disrupting anything of Urd, lest she face the dire consequences.  
"What are you doing here!" Shouted Urd, Skuld jumped back in surprise and started stumbling for words.

"A… I… I was just… you see…" "Spit it out, already!" said Urd, who was quickly growing impatient with her younger sister.  
Skuld, panicked and almost frozen with fear of her 'punishment', did the only thing she could think of;

which was to run.

"You're not going anywhere, sister!" Urd said. Before  
Skuld could place one centimeter outside Urd's Castle,  
Urd had activated a pre-arraigned spell that would seal her room,  
effectively stopping anyone or anything from exit.  
Skuld looked around quickly and then fell to her knees.

"Oh sister, please don't be angry… I was just… looking for something!"

Urd stopped and thought for a brief moment. "Ok… what could you possible be looking for in MY ROOM?" She said.  
Skuld tapped her two index fingers together nervously. "Well… before you… gave me that… _punishment_ last week,  
I had left one of my important Mechas in here, and I wanted to grab it before you woke up, and got you angry."

Urd calmed herself and found the whole thing amusing, but to teach her sister a lesson, Urd put on a serious face to Skuld.

"Next time, ASK me and I'll gladly give it you to…  
Everyone in System Maintenance would know I'd have nothing to do with all those thingamajigs  
and watcha-macallits that you're always tinkering with."

Urd stood up and turned to a nearby bookshelf; she then reached high on one of the shelves,  
apparently feeling around for something.  
Finally, Urd grabbed what appeared to be an oversized and sleek looking Rice cooker,  
she tossed this to Skuld who held it tightly, almost for dear life.

"Enter again without permission and you will face… the consequences." Skuld gulped and nodded vigorously.  
"Of... of course, Urd! Besides, next time I'll build the...X-MAT9 Lost Item Finder, and then I won't have to enter your room!"  
Skuld's usual confidence returned as her fear of getting punished vanished. Urd smirked to herself and sighed.

"Right, right… but right now we all need to get some Sake… err, I mean I need to get some Sake, while the rest of you can eat."  
Urd shooed Skuld out of her 'Castle' and closed the door.  
Skuld held her Mecha up in front of her face and examined it.  
"Everything looks alright… oh no wait, a cable is busted! I'll have to re-wire the power lines to another axis!"  
Skuld quickly dashed off towards her room.

Keiichi strolled into the dining room, and then the kitchen.

"Mmm, smells wonderful Bell-chan, what are you making for breakfast?"  
"Well, I thought today since we will probably be busy, some Miso Soup, Teriyaki Rice Cakes, and grilled fish…"  
Keiichi smacked his lips and gave Belldandy a small kiss on her cheek

"Thank you, Bell." He said. Belldandy smiled and rubbed his stomach.  
"Of course, if Keiichi-san's stomach needs my love, Keiichi's stomach will get what it needs."

Keiichi laughed a little and scratched the back of his head, as he often did when nervous or excited.  
"…but umm, what about the rest of my body?" Keiichi said, half chuckling.  
"Oh of course I wouldn't forget the rest of you Keiichi." Belldandy's face became concerned, but she smiled again when Keiichi stuck his tongue out in humor.  
Belldandy laughed a little bit as Keiichi started walking to the dining room. "Thanks Bell." He commented.

"Keii--!" Bell said softly. "Hmm?" Keiichi turned in question.

Belldandy put her fingers to her lips and blew a kiss towards her love.Keiichi's face became a deeper shade of red,  
not so much because that was something to be embarrassed about,but he was nervous seeing such a beautiful face,  
even in a kitchen… a highly unromantic place usually.

"Bell-chan, you too." Keiichi whispered back, before going to the dining area.  
Belldandy turned back and started the finishing touches on breakfast.  
Peorth walked in at that time and began talking to Belldandy in idle chatter.

_"Oh really? System Admin said that? How funny!"  
"Yeah, and then he was like…"_

Keiichi's mind went back and forth between University and what the announcement could possibly be…  
but after a few moments of patient waiting, his thoughts turned to food, specifically when Belldandy announced breakfast was ready.

While it was not necessary for the goddess to eat for nutrition, they still did so out of habit, and for the flavor of Belldandy's cooking in this case.  
Everyone sat down at the table and started eating.

"Mmm, this is even better then it smelled, Bell-chan!" Keiichi said happily.  
Urd held a cup of Sake in her hands,while Peorth and Skuld ate a little bit of the food.  
Belldandy paralleled Urd and held a Cup of Tea in her hands, and sipped a little of the drink.  
"I'm happy that my cooking make--"Belldandy stated. Skuld cut in at that moment though,

"Onee-san makes the best cooking ever! For once I can agree with Keiichi," stated Skuld, as she sipped a bit of the soup with a spoon.  
Urd and Peorth nodded in agreement. Belldandy thanked her sister. "What was that, Bell-chan?"

I was about to say, "I'm happy that you're happy." Belldandy smiled as Keiichi continued to eat.

Everyone had finished up their plates, so Keiichi and Belldandy took to washing the dishes in the kitchen while the other three waited for the "News".  
Soon, everyone was back in the dining room/living room where Peorth cleared her throat to draw everyone's attention.

"As I told Belldandy briefly, she is going to have to return to Heaven so that she can select a replacement agent for her Goddess Helpline position."  
"Why did they wait until now for this?" Asked Urd, Peorth looked up for a second.

"It could be anything really… I suspect when the system was down a year ago that it screwed up the timing for scheduling as well as other time-based events…"  
Peorth smiled a bit at the tender couple. "…and as we all know, Belldandy's situation here on earth is unique, so that may have added to the delay."  
Keiichi looked a bit confused. "What do you mean, timing for schedules?"

"Goddess and Gods can have vacations and reassignments among various jobs and necessary down-time.  
Right before that, normally, a replacement is chosen by both the leaving god or goddess and the service administrators, such as the Earth Technical Helpline, the System Administration, and Debugging."  
She said, looking at Skuld and Urd, "Firmware Version Updates, and a myriad of other items which a mortal mind couldn't possibly comprehend, and I don't mean that as an insult, it's a basic truth."

Keiichi thought it over for a second, and then another question popped into his head.  
"But…that doesn't explain why Urd didn't get some sort of replacement."

"_I_ was her replacement Keiichi… and the times that I have been down here before have either been vacation or to help out…  
plus its a lot less formal then I might have described, except for special cases."

"I see... this is all very interesting." Keiichi honestly was intrigued by these sets of rules,  
and regulations and such that Yggdrasil seemed to have.

"The entire replacement idea and implementation is designed both to ensure that Yggdrasil is maintained and serviced properly,  
but also as a way to acknowledge the responsibility that is now indebted to the newly assigned god, goddess."

Keiichi nodded. "I see, it does sound a bit unnecessary." Peorth smiled and laughed a little.  
"Well, while I did say it was more a formality…" She regained her serious facial expression,

"…there are still many gods and goddess up in Heaven who would eagerly take a position like Belldandy's, and they could be unqualified for that."

"Oh." Was all Keiichi could say to that.

"In any case, Belldandy will need to go back tonight or tomorrow, and if the selection process goes quickly, she should return within a week…a month if we get a particularly arrogant god applying."  
Peorth said again, obviously trying to make Keiichi nervous.  
Belldandy clasped her hands and had a calm look on her face, which turned to a small giggle at the sight of Keiichi's sweating brow.  
"Do not worry Keii--It something I have done before in my job, and I might do again in the future… Peorth is just teasing you."

Belldandy bowed to everyone. "If tonight or tomorrow is when I depart, then I best should prepare now."  
Belldandy walked into the hallway and towards the east exterior.

"This sucks! I won't have Onee-san here for a whole week or… or even a month!" Skuld was on the verge of being upset, but Urd smiled with a knowing grin.  
"Ahhh…don't worry, with me and Peorth down here, and even you little sis, we can handle the temple and Keiichi fine."  
Skuld give off a face of annoyance, while Peorth shook her head.  
"Actually, I'm going back up with her… I do have a system to administrate, unlike some people I know."

Urd's eyebrow rose at that comment.


	3. A False Accusation

"**Crossroads"**

By **Dark Nation**

-Chapter 03-

Peorth smiled, "Actually, I'm going back up with her… I do have a system to administrate, unlike some people I know." Urd's eyebrow rose at that comment.

"What? Are you saying I'm here because I want to?" Keiichi's eyes grew wide at that comment. "You mean you're not, Urd?"  
Keiichi asked in an anxious tone, his question caught her off guard. Urd stammered for words,  
"No… um...wait, what I mean is…" Skuld laughed a little, but then looked serious.  
"So you hate being down here huh?" Skuld said, in a bit of an accusing voice.

"Wait, wait...let me rephrase that! ahem --Peorth, are you insinuating that I am down on the Earth Realm because  
I don't want to return to Heaven at any point...that I am ignoring my job as Sysop?"  
She said as an afterthought, all Peorth did was laugh.  
"Well, I wouldn't go that far, but essentially yes."  
Steam seemed to come out of Urd's ears as Peorth walked off.  
"Its alright, someone has to get the job done, so why not me?"

Urd followed Peorth into the hallway to defend herself from that snide comment  
"Listen you, just because I wasn't…" Skuld pouted and crossed her arms.  
"With Onee-san back up there, I'll be stuck with YOU for a whole week or two… do you know how BORING that will be?"  
Keiichi opened his mouth to defend himself when Belldandy walked back in. Even though she was about

"Skuld…that's not something a growing goddess should say… Keiichi may be just a mortal,"  
Keiichi's ego fell hard at hearing that, but Belldandy wasn't finished.

"…but he is the mortal I chose to be with, for all of time, so please love and accept him, if not for myself,  
then for your sister, your friendship with him, his sister Megumi, everyone at the motor club, and everyone else."

Belldandy spoke in a calm voice, a voice of reason and wisdom.

Skuld looked over with one eye open at Keiichi, who had stuck out his hand in an act of 'diplomacy'.  
Skuld saw Belldandy's eyes and with that, her defenses fell.

"Fine… I guess a mortal that my sister………likes… it can't be that bad."

Keiichi and Skuld shook hands.  
Skuld had half-tempted to use a hand buzzer as she had way back against his sister during the Robot Competition,  
but thought better of it at this moment.

"Thank you Skuld for being what a goddess should be, you'll turn into a great full-grown goddess soon enough like that."  
Skuld's eyes lit up at this proposition, while images of Skuld fully grown and building  
gigantic machines of unheard processing power and complexity filled her eyes.

"… Thank you Keiichi, for tolerating Skuld's mischief." Unfazed, Skuld marched into her room,  
announcing the start of some new highly complex machine,  
a Mark III something or other to speed up cleaning around the temple grounds.

"Of course Belldandy," said Keiichi. He walked up to her and gently held her in his arms.

"Its times like these that I don't know what I would do if you were to go away…  
I don't mean back to Heaven for a week, but…"  
Keiichi couldn't bring himself to mention the meaning of his statement and trailed off looking down.

"… no, never mind… I'm happy that you're with me here, in the now."

Belldandy smiled at him warmly,  
but underneath sensed a blue color from Keiichi  
and hugged him even tighter.

"As long as god permits it, and even if he does not,  
I will not leave you Keiichi, because I… love you."  
All Keiichi could do is say,

"Bell…" The two lovers stood in an embrace for a full minute  
before Belldandy parted their close hug.

"However… I do have to prepare, and you need to leave for class soon, so if you'll excuse me Keii-kun."  
Belldandy leaned over and gave him a small kiss on his right cheek.  
As Keiichi blushed, she walked off and smiled to herself.  
Keiichi's thoughts raced back to the previous romantic moment.

"She sure knows how to make me happy" He said to himself.  
Keiichi absent mindedly looked at a wall-clock  
and realized he would be late if he did not leave very soon.

"Well, time to get to class." Keiichi walked off to his room to grab his class books.

Urd and Peorth had settled down from their argument and were in Urd's Castle  
talking about gossip-like topics as well as System Administrative related stuff as well,  
there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." Urd said. Belldandy walked in slowly with a curious look on her face.

"Umm… did either of you sense anything unusual just a moment ago?"  
Peorth and Urd reflected to themselves for a brief instant before nodding.

Urd peered around in suspicion.

"I suspect that either a mischievous spirit, or possibly a low level demon is nearby."  
Peorth paused and then her eyes lit up in surprise.  
"She's right; I can sense… something, which is close by."

She then cast a quick spell that laid out a 3-D looking layout of the temple grounds,  
complete with a tiny Keiichi pulling out his motorcycle from a back-side shed.

"It doesn't appear to be anything serious, but can you pinpoint where the intruder is?"  
Asked Belldandy; Peorth concentrated and the image of the temple shifted towards a side-wall  
where a small red dot blinked in a repeating pattern.

"It must be there… I'll take a look with Banpei."  
Said Urd, pointing over to an old tree.

"Alright, but be careful sister." Said Belldandy in her usual concerned fashion,  
one of which she would clasp her hands together with a worrisome look on her face.  
Urd shrugged off her concern to a degree.

"As Peorth's map shows, we're dealing with something of a low power-level…"  
Peorth cut in, "… that seems to be using a rudimentary shielding spell."  
Belldandy eased a bit and walked with her sister  
and Peorth to the east temple walkway.

"Alright…" Urd started,

"Belldandy, you make sure Banpei is set up to do the dirty work,  
while I'll go and draw it out." Belldandy was already walking over to Banpei,  
a small robot that was trusted with the temple security.

The down-side is that while powerful demons like Mara,  
would on a seemingly regular basis to cause harm and concern to the divine household,  
smaller weaker demons were rarely seen,  
so Banpei's defenses didn't see the apparition hidden in a tree near the east-side wall.

"Banpei-kun!" Shouted Belldandy in a happy mood.  
Banpei turned from its previous job of sweeping leaves from a stone path.  
Internally its sensors locked onto Belldandy and identified her.  
Belldandy strolled up to the robot and kneeled down to close to his height.

"Banpei, we suspect that a low level spirit or demon may be here in the temple,  
could you please go investigate?" Belldandy pointed over towards where Peorth and Urd were at.  
Banpei was also programmed to follow any instruction made by Belldandy or Skuld,  
and so immediately started towards where they thought the intruder might be located.  
Belldandy smiled and followed close behind.

"Alright Banpei, stop here and wait for the intruder to come out; Urd is going to lure it out,"  
Instructed Belldandy. Banpei nodded and assumed a ready position with the broom in its hands.


	4. Skuld Versus The Bug

"**Crossroads"**

By **Dark Nation**

-Chapter 04-

Urd's part of the scheme was set into motion.

"La la la, here I am, an innocent human being doing nothing unusual, just walking along minding my own business." Said Urd, as she was trying to attract the demon or spirit's attention. She briefly looked back towards the Temple and saw that Banpei was standing guard. She continued her charade,

"Well, might as well go strolling by these lovely trees and bushes." Urd walked with a small thrust in her hips, just in case the spirit was male. Just then she sensed an incoming attack and raised a small barrier spell. A chunk of rock bounced off her shield. She looked curiously at the small object before she was assaulted again with a barrage of small rocks, branches and flower petals for some reason.

"Flower petals… rocks? This can't be happening." Urd commented to herself, starting to laugh. "Heh he… well it seems I got whatever it is attention."

Suddenly she was looking dead in the eye of a tiny symbol. It was for all intents and purposes a literal floating symbol, resembling a letter of some ancient alphabet… the object circled Urd a few times, stopped, and then began to glow. Urd jumped back and drew her arms in front of her as more small objects came at her, and harmlessly bounced off.

"Banpei, attack now!" Urd shouted.

Springing into action, Banpei locked onto the object and fired a couple small missiles which drew close to the floating letter. The object maneuvered around and dodged the attack.

Urd, sensing a moment in which to attack swung down with her arms to hit the symbol, but missed. The object spun around a few times and then came to a small hovering standstill in front of Urd. "Now what in Yggdrasil's name is this… thing?" She asked herself in confusion.

It was at this time that Skuld came out to see what the commotion was about. She looked over and first saw Banpei in a battle position, Peorth and Urd looking on in a tense mood, and finally Urd looking at a floating object.

This object was something Skuld had not seen in a long time, but she immediately knew what it was, and proceeded to do what she did last time: Smash it to bits.

Urd glanced over after another attack by Banpei and saw a short blur coming towards her. At first she thought it was the object, but then recognized an extended and more elaborate version of Skuld's Mjolnir hammer.

"Kyahhhh!" Shouted Skuld in a battle cry as she came down from a high jump and smashed the symbol into tiny pieces. These pieces disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Skuld, where did you come from?"

"I was watching from afar at whatever you and Onee-san were doing and then I saw a bug, so naturally... I had to act!" Urd had a mixed look of indignation and amusement.

"I know, but you just suddenly appeared, and since when has your hammer looked like that!" Urd asked in confusion. Skuld placed her Hammer back onto its holding sheath on her back.

"Well, you just encountered something I had to deal with before, but not in a long time… this hammer was reconfigured a few minutes for last time when I dealt with it!" She said almost egotistically.

"Which is now why the bug is now gone!"

Belldandy and Peorth walked over as Urd patted Skuld on the back. "Well for once you did something right,"

"Hey what does that mean!" Interrupting, Belldandy gave Skuld a small hug. "Thank you for defeating that unusual thing sister." Skuld smiled wide and gave her sister the Victory pose.

"It was no problem!" Peorth chuckled. "Alright… now how about telling us what it was? I've never seen that kind of spirit or demon before…"

"That's because, it's NOT a demon or a spirit… it's a bug, Like I just told Urd!" Belldandy nodded and looked around. "I don't sense anything else unusual… so why would a lone bug appear?" Peorth was clued into what Belldandy was getting at and chimed in with her own questions.

"Right, and from what I've seen, bugs are usually represented here as little rabbits."

Skuld was a bit nervous from the inquisition. "Well… you see… I wasn't _trying_ to not tell ya, but…" Urd felt a vein in her head throb. She was up way too early for this sort of thing, despite her earlier willingness for battle.

"What are you talking about, what were you… wait a sec, this is because of something YOU did, isn't it?"

Urd looked at Skuld for a moment and then laughed to herself a little. "Well, you see…"

Belldandy clasped Skuld's shoulders and asked her in a calm voice. "Skuld, we all make mistakes as we grow older into goddesses, and once you learn from your mistakes, you will be as beautiful as the top branch of Yggdrasil's mainframe." Skuld felt tears coming to her eyes and wiped them away in advance.

"Alright, thank you Onee-san!" Skuld walked back a few feet and then turned with renewed confidence.

"Urd, Big Sister, Peorth." They all waited for her explanation.

"When I was a few hundred years younger, I had just recently been assigned to debugging… at that time I encountered what I found out later to be a rare and highly improbable bug, one that affects several systems, including the actual wishes of your jobs, big sister… and Peorth!" She paused to let her words sink in.

"If that's true, then why didn't we hear anything about it?" Asked Urd, as Skuld fidgeted nervously.

"Well… you see… I managed to get rid of the bug, but I had to experiment with my Mjolnir first, trying out different configurations for different bugs and glitches and so forth…and I think the first few attempts may have let the bug reemerge now." Skuld sat down on a rock with her knees close to her head and her arms crossed.

"I'm really sorry for not telling anyone, but the bug was so unusual… I didn't know what to do… so I just never mentioned it… I didn't wanna get in trouble!"

Belldandy turned towards her sister and Peorth. "Well, that would explain why…" Urd held up her hand.

"Let's not go back to _that _incident Belldandy… Skuld would yell up a storm." Peorth nodded silently and then started walking back into the house. "I'm going to take a Bath for a little while; we can discuss this later if it's alright?"

"Of course Peorth… we'll discuss it later on today." She smiled in her usual manner as Belldandy and Peorth both walked back into the temple, with Belldandy heading towards the kitchen again, presumably to clean-up from breakfast.

Skuld looked up and noticed a lack of something that usually came with these kinds of situations. This something was always present, and now that it was gone, Skuld felt like she was in front of an Ice Cream shop that had run out of inventory.

"Umm ...Urd?" Urd walked up to her.

"Yeah, what is it?"

Skuld cleared her throat.

"This is the part where you yell at me and big sister stops you…" Silently Skuld cursed herself for mentioning it, but she felt she must try to follow her big sister's advice, so she could all the sooner become a goddess, even if that means admitting mistakes.

Urd looked at Skuld… she could have used this against her younger sister, but since this was something that happened… oh, once in a blue moon she decided to attempt and do what Belldandy would do.

"Skuld, I **am** mad at you, but…"

"…but what?"

Skuld looked up in hope.

Urd's face drooped. "…I'm too friggin' tired to do much of anything at the moment; I'm going in for a nap." Skuld's eyes widened as she thanks Kami-sama himself for this reprieve.

As Urd approached the wooden platform that encircles the temple, she turned to her younger sister.

"But don't think…" Urd started to say as Skuld looked up again.

"…that you won't get what's coming to ya!" Urd laughed a little and walked inside.

Skuld sighed to herself. "I guess I had better come up with some sort of device to monitor for more of these bugs." She said with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. She got up from the rock.

"It will probably need to scan continuously in a wide-ranged area, and be covert and small in size, smaller then my room." She started walking.

"In addition, I should also scan for other abnormalities that were caused by the _last_ time that thing appeared." She started getting more ideas into her head and walked faster.

"If there is going to be a database connected that checks against existing problems, and scans for other types of multidimensional rifts, I'll need to have an additional scanner from a high altitude satellite, as well as a 7th Dimensional Deep Hard Drive." She gained a bounce in her step.

"An external scanning program could also be put into Banpei's programming matrixes to boost the local effect radius, and that means that…" Skuld now was full blow running towards her room in an effort to start as quickly as possible on her blooming creation.


	5. Meanwhile, at NNT

"**Crossroads"**

By **Dark Nation**

-Chapter 05-

Meanwhile, at the Nekomi Institute of Technology, Keiichi was at this point trying to fix his motorcycles' clutch cable, which had stopped working for some reason or another. Keiichi was beginning to chalk it up to bad luck when he was interrupted by a loud crashing noise. He looked up in surprise, and saw on the other-side of the campus parking-lot a commotion. Quickly approaching his direction he saw his older classmates Tamiya and Ootaki carrying signs, with a stereo on Ootaki's shoulder playing loud music.

"Attention Students of NIT, we of the Nekomi Motor Club invite you to join our wondrous club, just in time for next month's all-around regional racing cup!"

Keiichi tried to go back to what he was working on, but those plans evaporated as he saw the two walk towards him and his BMW Bike.

"Take for example this fine young man, Keiichi Morisato, a valued and highly skilled member of our club. His dedication is so fierce, that he is working on this bike in between classes!" Tamiya shouted through a Megaphone over the noise of the music. A small crowd was beginning to develop around Keiichi's parking space.

"Uhh, Tamiya, Ootaki… I was just…" Keiichi didn't get much farther in speaking.

"This BMV bike, which has a faulty… uhh…" For all of Tamiya's expertise on al thing mechanical, his view was unable to determine what was actually wrong, fortunately, Keiichi provided a cop-out.

"It's the clutch cable actually… because of the…" Tamiya cut him off in an eager stride, "RIGHT! This motorcycle's clutch cable is damaged. However, when you join the NIT Motor Club, you will gain the knowledge and passion to fix such minor problems with ease and with vigor!"

Using this situation to their advantage, Ootaki and Tamiya quickly set up a demonstration of fixing Keiichi's motorcycle, which actually was impressive to some passerbyers, unfortunately for the two older classmates, their plan failed when Keiichi had to leave for his next class… thus stripping them of their example.

"Wait, Morisato! Tell your teacher that the great Tamiya was helping you out on your motorcycle after we work on it a bit more."

"I'm sorry you guys, but I have to get to class… uhh… good luck on getting more people!"

Ootaki smiled wide and slapped Keiichi's back and laughed. "Of course, with our combined efforts, our next meeting will be packed with new members!" Ootaki switched CDs, and started playing a fierce guitar solo; Tamiya picked up on the cue and started over his speech for recruitment.

"Attention Students of NIT, we the proud members of the Nekomi Auto Club wish to…" Keiichi smiled in self-knowing at his older classmates as he briefly checked the clutch cable.

"Well at least they know their stuff on mechanics." He commented to himself. Keiichi strapped on his helmet and waded out of the parking lot, fighting against the laws of traffic motion, as other students were attempting to either leave for classes or lunch, since it was around noon-time.

Keiichi, having the advantage of mobility and size on his motorcycle beat the traffic gods and escaped to a side-road that partially encircled the campus. His next class would be Advanced Mechanical Theory located on the northern section.

As he drove along the east side of the campus, which was bulged up against nearby student dorms, his thoughts turned to earlier this morning.

'I wonder what Belldandy has gotten me for tonight… and I wonder if she'll like what I got her' He thought as waited at a Red light. The light switched to green, and Keiichi turned the bike, and was now going north.

High above the Campus was a lone figure, one whom was watching Keiichi with a wicked smile. "So, mortal Keiichi, what DID you get for that blessed' Belldandy, eh?"

Mara gazed around briefly, then pulled out a thin bottle, the contents of which were a purple liquid of some sort. Mara grinned widely, but then sighed in a sudden change of mood. "Its times like these I wish I could inflict SO much more to them… but my mission all the same remains: Drive Away Belldandy!"

Looking around to an invisible audience, she suddenly blushed. "I gotta stop doing that whole dramatic thing…" she murmured to herself.

The concept of changing your own future by making decisions on your own which will effect the immediate future, and fate, where everything you do is predetermined and so you might as well not even bother trying to change anything are two completely different styles of thinking: One optimistic and a bit naive, and the other fatalist and pessimistic at the same time.

How these two different approaches to a dramatic offshoot to an even older question: 'What Time is It?', remains a mystery of the cosmos. However unlike those who argue that they choose to argue, and those who contest that it was fated that they all disagree are dancing around a larger truth, that sometimes your actions determine the near future, and at other moments it was going to happen anyway, and there's nothing you can do about it:

At this point in time, Keiichi was about to find out that the latter of these truths were true, at least in this instance. He gazed down a street, and turned his head, looking both ways at an intersection, finally he then crossed when no traffic was near. It was at that time, that what was fated to be occurred: He crashed.

"Oh my god! What happened?" Several pedestrians rushed over to see if anyone was hurt, and partially to gaze at the overturned motorcycle.

Mara clutched her head in temporary pain… however she had to smile a bit… she _did_ make Keiichi crash, even if involved her having a headache for the next 10 minutes. "Uhh… crap this is going to look bad on my report."

Keiichi crawled out from under the overturned motorcycle with the help of a student and brushed off dirt from his clothes. "Thank god I didn't get hurt…" He said to himself. "Well, everything seems ok..." He said as he gave the bike a quick look-over. Suddenly he remembered something. "What about the woman I hit, is she ok!" Keiichi ran around the bike and over to a blond-haired women who was lying down in a fairly uncomfortable position.

"Miss, are you alright? I'm absolutely terribly sorry about running into you, its like you just appeared out of thin--", Mara got to a sitting position with her head still throbbing.

"-—air..." Keiichi managed to sputter out in his realization of who it actually was. "Heh, well you never change... oww my head!" "Mara! What are you trying to do, kill me? ...Well actually since you are a demon, I guess that's not out of the question, but still!"

Keiichi's hands formed into fists as his anger rose. Mara however merely laughed. "Hahaha, watch out Keiichi, next time I strike it won't be so obvious!" Mara ran down the street. "Hey wait!" Keiichi started running after her, but when he turned to an alleyway she had gone into, he saw only an empty path. "She's gone..."


	6. Accidents Happen

"**Crossroads"**

By **Dark Nation**

-Chapter 06-

Keiichi sighed to himself. "What is she planning, and since when has she resorted to attacking ME?" These and other thoughts filled his mind as he walked back to his motorcycle, still partially in the street.

"You alright there, buddy?" Asked a voice; which came from a man who had seen the accident. "Yeah, I'll be fine, but the de—- err...the dainty woman I tried to stop just took off!" Keiichi fake explained. "Sounds weird, but I guess you came out ok, right?" The guy that Keiichi was talking to seemed to be a student at the university, only quite muscular. "I seem to still be in one piece." "Yeah, and I guess she was fine as well, otherwise she wouldn't have taken off like that." Keiichi nodded... seeing the man's physique, he decided he would get some assistance.

"Say, can you give me hand with my bike for a second?" Keiichi asked. "Oh sure, I'm in the Fitness Club so this kinda thing is right up my alley!" Keiichi motioned and got both of them around the bike.

"Alright, you grab that end, and I'll get it from this side." Keiichi and the student carefully propped the motorcycle back onto an upright position after a few seconds of uncertainty. "Whew" Keiichi exasperated, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Thanks for the help, uh…"

"You can call me Alphonse Eric" "I'm Morisato Keiichi."

(Author's Note: In Japan, it is custom to have the family name first and personal name last, so 'John Smith' would be told as 'Smith John' in Japan.)

Both men bowed slightly and Keiichi hopped back onto his motorcycle. The Key, where is it? He thought. "Oh hey, don't forgot this!" said Eric. In Eric's hands was the motorcycle key as well as Keiichi's other keys. There it is! "Where was it?" Asked Keiichi as he took the key and started the ignition. "It was on the ground next to your bike." "Ahhh well thanks again."

Keiichi had a thought.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but are by chance interested in Motorcycles or Cars at all?" Eric appeared in thought for a moment. "Yeah I guess, why ya ask?" "Well, I'm working for Chihiro, who runs the Whirlwind Auto Shop and, is also the founder of the Motor Club here on Campus; I just thought right now that maybe you might have some interest in joining."

He smiled and waited for a response from Eric. Eric smiled wide. "Really...? I've heard of the shop... I might not be able to join if I can't fix it into my schedule, but sure I'll stop by and see what it's about!" Keiichi reached for his Helmet which had fallen off, not actually from the accident, but afterwards as he hung upside down on the motorcycle. "Alright, and if I'm not there, tell them...uhh... Morisato sent you!" Eric laughed. "Alright, so MORISATO sent me it is then! See you later!" He said in a loud voice not too different from a couple of older classmates that Keiichi knew well.

Keiichi nodded and waved as he put on his helmet. Keiichi slowly moved back into traffic, which was pretty light but still busy (as it WAS a university after all); while Eric waved back before returning to the crowd. "I have a feeling that Tamiya and Ootaki will get along fine with him." Keiichi mumbled to himself.

More questions filled his mind as he continued onward to his next class, and the north-side parking lot. What on earth was Mara doing, crashing into me? He flinched a little when he came to another intersection. "Shoot, I must have sprained something..." Keiichi carefully looked both ways and crossed the way. No, from what I've seen she's never been very clumsy... maybe dimwitted and evil, but not clumsy. 

Keiichi stopped at a final light before heading past it about a block and then turning into a Student Parking Zone, even though Keiichi was in his last couple of months of school, he still needed to attend two classes. One class was for his degree, while the other was simply required, his German Language class.

Keiichi pulled into an empty motorcycle only parking spot and turned off the engine. He decided to take a closer look at any damage before he went to class. "Hmm... a few minor bumps to the side, with... what the...oh great!" There was one long gash along the right side of the bike.

"I'll have try and fix this later..." He mentioned to himself as he checked his watch. Keiichi grabbed his books from a side compartment and his helmet and walked up some stairs towards where his class was.

"Hey Keii-chan!" shouted a familiar voice.

Turning around in surprise, Keiichi sighed as his sister Megumi waved from across the parking lot. "Hi Lil' Sis'" Keiichi shouted back in obligation. Megumi was dressed in her Softball Club's uniform, complete with matching cap and Baseball Bat to match. "Do you HAVE to call me that?" Megumi said with a deadpan expression. "Of course, it's my obligation." Keiichi replied back teasingly.

"You're off to German Class?" She asked.

Keiichi nodded as he attempted to stop his books from falling out of his arms. "Here, let me get that." Megumi grabbed Keiichi's books and held them in place, along with a wide grin. "Uhh, thanks... what are you so happy about all of a sudden?"

Megumi's smile faded. "What? Don't tell me that my dimwitted brother FORGOT about what today is!" Megumi shouted to her confused brother, but then quieted when she noticed the peering eyes of passing students, looking at her strangely. "What's that girl doing?" "Oh it's just Keiichi's sister." "Right, so I guess nothing out of the ordinary then." Commented said Students.

"Oh, that… no I absolutely didn't forget, in fact me and Bell-chan were talking about it this morning..." Megumi resumed her smile from just before, a little more reserved perhaps though. "...and... what did she say?" "Well there wasn't much I was able to talk about..."

"What, you wasted time!" Keiichi held up his hand. "No, see her sisters got in the way, and then well nothing I could do about it..." He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Huh?" Megumi looked confused.

"Never mind" Said Keiichi. "Anyway, I gotta get to class soon... are you on our way to practice?" "Mmm, nope, just got off it about 10 minutes ago actually..." "Oh I see." "Yeah, but that's not what's important right now, dear brother." Megumi winked and pointed her finger at her head. "Right now... I have something important to give you."

"Oh? What are you giving me?" He said as he suddenly found himself holding a white envelope. "Well, the softball club had a meeting and we decided to go to Tokyo for our annual Club vacation..." Keiichi scratched his head. "Wow, so you're inviting us along, gee than..." Megumi held up a finger to stop Keiichi from continuing. "Actually... we WERE going to go to a secluded beach for our trip, but everyone wanted to go shopping in the downtown districts." Megumi shrugged. "So, I thought I might as well give you and Belldandy some of the tickets left from the planned Beach destination."

Keiichi again scratched his head. "If you all decided to go down to Tokyo, why did you get the tickets?"

The Bell indicating that class would be starting in 5 minutes rang. "Well, it was a last minute change, and the tickets had already been bought. Don't worry, I'm sure you two will have a great time... well gotta get to class, bye!"

Keiichi waved and then looked at the envelope. "Well... I guess this means either I am incredibly lucky, or that something sinister is afoot." Keiichi put the envelope into his backpack and quickly headed to German Class.

"Heh, poor Keiichi..." Megumi said to herself as she casually walked towards her own classes. "I bet he doesn't even realize what KIND of a beach it is..." She stopped at a water fountain and quenched her thirst with a stream of cool crystal clear water... not as good as the mountain spring kind, but leagues above what American or European water quality is like on tap.

She swept away excess water on her face and smiled at the view of many students rushing towards their various classes. "...I'm sure you'll still have fun Big Brother." Megumi turned and walked down a few meters where she greeted a few of her friends who were in the next class with her.

"Heya Megumi!" Shouted a young girl, no older then 20. She waved in earnest and laughed a little. "Hello Sakura-chan!" Megumi and her two friends started talking about the usual things like softball and gossip, a minute later as they were walking into the classroom, Megumi had a thought.

"By the way, do you know if the Professor in today, or is he still sick?" Megumi asked in a hopeful manner. "Sensei is still out with the flu, so..." Her friend started saying.

"So..." Megumi knew what was coming. "...another day with the Substitute!" Their faces clearly expressed how they felt at the moment; it was an expression of pain. "Well no waste in delaying the inevitable..." Megumi started. "...time to enter Boring Class 101" Finished her other friend.

The trio walked into the class a little more depressed then before.


	7. Midday Musings

"**Crossroads"**

By **Dark Nation**

-Chapter 07-

"Would you like more tea, Peorth?" The vitalic goddess smiled. "Oh no, I'm quite fine, but thanks anyway."

While the background noise of machines and mechanical tools could be heard from one particular section of the temple, Peorth and Belldandy had taken a moment out of the hectic day to enjoy wine and tea... Not that I don't appreciate a relaxing cup of tea Peorth thought contently, ...but there are intricate pleasures that come with a tall glass of aged Fonseca or Sandeman wine . Truly, she thought It still amazes me that these mortals can preserve such divine taste within these thin bottles .

"So tell me, Belldandy..." She said sipping from her glass, held in hand in the proper regal manner, "Have you ever been away from Keiichi like this before, I mean going back up for a month?" Belldandy shook her head. "No... But shouldn't the Ultimate Force..."

Peorth herself was unsure of Belldandy's forthcoming question, but as she had been told by her superiors in Heaven, there were times when the system HAD to be temporarily disabled, however she, being a self-styled expert on love and emotions, choose to spare Belldandy of the petty details. "There have been preparations made in advance to account for that part of your contract." Peorth stated in a serious tone. Belldandy tensed up slightly. "Well…then…"

Belldandy smiled in her oft-naiveté manner. "There should be no problem then!"

Inside, Belldandy chastised herself for feeling somewhat... was it guilt? No, she knew her duty as a goddess, as a wish granter, and as an employee of the Goddess Technical Helpline that she would be subject to these sort of proceedings. However there was a nagging cloister of doubt in the back of her mind, a semi-conscious feeling that she should be sad for departing, even though she knew Keiichi would soon again be in her arms.

"You look distraught Bell—"

"I... I don't... "

Belldandy couldn't form words to give meaning to the barely effable emotion that dwelled inside her, she needed time to think.

"Excuse me, Peorth, I need some space... my mind feels burdened by many thoughts, and it would be reckless of me not to sort them out."

"Of course, I'll be watching TV with Urd."

Peorth got up and half-walked, half hovered out of the tea-room, although it looked more like a child skipping on the way to school more-so then what she was actually doing. Something's not right... Peorth thought. I'll just have to get down to the bottom of the mystery .

"Urd, what on earth are you watching?" Urd turned in slight surprise. "Oh, it's called Big Z! There's this guy, named Big Z, and when he is in danger, or someone he is protecting is in danger, Big Z can get big by..."

"Fine, fine, All I needed to know... you don't have to tell me the entire show in one sentence!" Peorth had a serious look on her face. She and Urd looked at each other sternly.

"Oh really?" Urd asked indignantly.

"Yes, really." Peorth replied back.

They stared at each other for a full minute, but before their contest could continue.

"Duh nah nay! ...We now return to Big Z!"

"Shish! It's back on!" They both said at the same time.

Blink

They both turned and started watching the show, seen was a large muscular man and a very muscular woman in strange clothing. "You'll never defeat me, Dominixtra!" Said the man, while the woman pulled out a long whip and lashed it on the ground. "I'll be whipping you down to size in a moment, _little_ Z!"

Peorth became strangely engrossed by the show, and floated into a comfortable watching position. Urd assumed her own leisurely place near the boob-tube and they both became entranced by the totally not-real-yet-still-cool adventures of Big Z.

It was at this time that in another corner of the 'house' or more appropriately, the temple, that Skuld was fuming in anger.

"Blast all the wrenches in the world, why can't Keiichi be here already?" Before her stood something that looked half like a DVD-Player, and half like a car's engine. The hybrid appearance was something that could not be described with any respect to the masterpiece that the creation of science and Skuld really was, so we shall just say that it was uniquely Skuld-ish.

However, even the great design of this contraption had a problem: it was only half-way complete.

Skuld thought for a moment of possible solutions.

Let's see… I could grab some of Keiichi's money from his bank account via a simple hack and go buy the tools. I could wait until he gets home, whenever that will be, and ask for them then. I could call him in class and have him come over and give me the tools...OR, I could simply teleport over there and get them from him directly. 

Skuld's thought process instantly knew the best solution, but she spoke aloud so that she had time to think of the consequences and of past experiences with similar choices.

From what I just came up with... She thought to herself as she grabbed a small bucket of Ice Cream (Neapolitan Flavor), Keiichi would be unhappy with the loss of his money and possible invasion of privacy...Onee-chan would be upset with me actions as well, so that option is out. 

She feel back and laid on the ground, thinking some more.

Waiting until he gets home is seriously a waste of my time and is boring! So that option is wayyy out! her face became serious in turn for a moment.

I don't think the technologically backwards mortal even has a primitive cellphone, and I don't even know the NIT's number for that matter. I guess option number three is gone... 

She continued to think of ways around her current situation.

If I teleport to the school, I'll have to look for his dumb classroom, wasting time anyway, and what if he's not even there, what if he's out at lunch or on his way back? 

Suddenly her face went from happy to sad to angry all in the moment of a few seconds. This was akin to someone having the proverbial light bulb over the head. Except for Skuld, it would not be a light bulb, but rather a proton charged negative energy counterclockwise-spinning light source; which derived power from an entropy-breaking perpetual motion electric vayluesion device.

This was of course an impossible concept in our three-dimensional realm, but it was something once used in Heaven by her at various points, which did not have to worry about particles breaking down into their most basic concepts, or energy becoming progressively less efficient.

God probably had something to do with it, but no one knew or cared.

Skuld's thoughts became excited and A sixth and much simpler solution formed in her mind.

Of course I could just launch a Satellite and find his biosignature via GPS and then teleport close to that location and then get the tools directly from him. No muss, no fuss, and I get to build something in the process! 

She giggled as she began construction of the Satellite. "Sometimes it really pays off to be a genius." She said to herself happily. It was at that very moment, that somewhere in the back of his mind, Keiichi felt a chill...being that he was in class, he decided to ignore it.


	8. Interlude

"**Crossroads"**

By **Dark Nation**

-Chapter 08-

* * *

The teacher bowed a little, "That will be all for today. There will be a quiz on chapters fourteen through seventeen will be next week. Auf Wiedersehen".  
The students began packing their things and exiting from the lecture hall. Keiichi put the class's Language books in his backpack when he heard a familiar voice.  
"Morisato!" Keiichi turned around and saw two large muscular men, one dressed in a tank top and military pants,  
while the other had on a biker's jacket and dark pants. 

"Oh, hey there Sempai," He said in hesitation. Tamiya slapped him on the back and laughed.

"You're a better member of the Auto Club then we realized!" Keiichi blinked and wondered what they were talking about.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh Keiichi, don't play dumb… we know you told our newest member of the Auto Club. Thanks to your inspired speech, we now have a new disciple among our ranks!"  
Ootaki chimed in with much fervor and emotion.

_Those guys sure take the club seriously, even without me, bell and Chihiro there anymore… well as official members anyway._

"Ahh, well I'm glad to help out if I can…" Keiichi bluffed and scratched his head smiling a bit.  
Tamiya laughed again and flexed his arm. "That's right, because it fills our hearts with joy to tell you this…"

Keiichi sensed a 'job' approaching, but said nothing.

Ootaki finished his sentence, "… We ordered a large tool set to gradually replace our current tools, and we ordered double by accident.  
So we need you to store some of them for a little while. Your place has more then enough room, right? ""Well yeah, but I don't know if.—",  
Tamiya bear hugged him which left Keiichi stunned for a moment. "Thanks a lot Morisato!We'll be back in about 10 minutes to drop them off to you!"  
Ootaki thought for a second. "Oh, and wait out front!"Before Keiichi could respond again they walked off and turned the corner.

_Well I guess I can fine some room, but I'll need to tell Bell-chan and the others first._

Keiichi grabbed his backpack and walked out of the classroom and down a hall, turning and exiting from the building.  
Various posted hung up along the walls captured his attention though:

_Hmm… Calligraphy Club, Literary Club… something called an SOS Dan?  
A student made movie now available on DVD, the 'Society for the Study of Modern Visual Art', and a new club for… Desu Doll Lovers?  
…Huh… This place sure has a club for anyone's interest… _Keiichi thought to himself as he saw many posters for different Campus Clubs.

Once outside, he gazed at the crowd of students walking about and sat down at a nearby Bench.

It was at this time that Megumi and her friends got out of class. "Oh my god that was so boring!" one chimed in.  
The other nodded and Megumi laughed "Yeah, but it wasn't as bad as last week… remember how he went on and on about\  
Diverse Economic Models of the Antarctic Capital Gains distribution or something like that?"

Megumi's friend laughed and continued "I know, and then today he was like…" She began to imitate the substitute's voice, 

" 'I forgot my notes today, so we shall do a quick review of the covered materials, I know you all are excited about this, but try to stay calm' ". 

Megumi held her stomach trying to stop herself laughing. "Oh my god… yeah that was hilarious." Her friend stopped and looked around, Hey Megumi don't you know that kid?"  
Megumi looked up. "What kid?" "The one over there with the… weird cellphone." Megumi looked towards where her friend was pointing and recognized the 'kid'.

It was none other than…

"Oh, that's Skuld; remember how I went up against her in the robot competition?"  
Megumi took out her cellphone and checked the time. "Oh yeah… I didn't recognize her from far away."  
Megumi nodded. "Hey it's almost 1:15, you wanna go get lunch?"  
"Sure, but I'm on a diet so we gotta go to a place that has salads."  
"I know one about 2 miles east, it's an American franchise but it's really good, I think the place was called Subway."

"I've heard good things about that place; as it's supposed to be where you pick out what you want on your sub."

Megumi proudly mentioned. A nod of agreement indicated that they would take lunch at Subway.  
Megumi glanced at Skuld in the distance before joining her friends already walking to the train station.  
Skuld meanwhile was using her 'weird' cellphone (Which was in actuality a GPS Tracking Module) to locate Keiichi's signal.  
"Ahh, I can't believe I forgot to add in the high cellphone use variable, now I have to manually find him! This is so stupid!"  
Before Skuld could complain further, she happened to see Ootaki and Tamiya.

"Ooh, its Keiichi's weird friends… maybe they know where he is." She said to herself.  
Taking no time, she walked over to a small three wheeled truck and placed her hands on her hips.

Ahem

No response as they continued to load a few boxes onto the truck.

"**HEY!**"

Ootaki's hand slipped as he tried to recover the fumbling box in his hand, while Tamiya tried to avoid getting hit by the box.  
"Whoa, hey uh watch out Ootaki!" "I'm trying, but the box is…"  
Heavy magazines fell out of the box and piled onto the next parking space.  
"Umm, what did you want anyway Tamiya?"

"Me? I thought you said something…"

Skuld's face grew red from frustration for a moment. "It was me!" Turning their heads, they spotted a girl wearing a green dress with white shoes  
and an iconic symbol patched onto the sides of a green and white jacket as well as her shoes.  
This icon of course being the same symbol that is embraced upon her forehead.

"Ooh, its Belldandy's little sister!" Tamiya said enthusiastically. Suppressing her urge to yell out how she isn't little,  
Skuld looked at her GPS Locater.Strained from the misbalance, the two men collapsed under newspaper.  
Skuld jumped back but saw they were relatively ok and ignored thier plight.

"Hey, you two know where Keiichi is?"

"Morisato? Yeah he should be waiting for us over that way" Tamiya pointed east towards the campus entrance.  
"If he isn't there, then he would be at the Auto Club, since we need to bring him some stuff"."Ok, thank you!"  
Skuld bowed and quickly ran in the direction they indicated. Tamiya and Ootaki looked at each other for a moment.  
"Well, let's see what Morisato is up to now, ehh?" Asked Tamiya, to which Ootaki nodded.  
They relieved themselves of the newspapers and began putting them back into the box.

**Meanwhile…**

Mara giggled to herself as she swept away some hair from her face._  
Hrm...Substitute teacher is a bit banal, but seeing those kids drop in depression can only get me closer._  
She relayed the situation to herself in her mind and looked at a vial in her hand._  
Soon they will know the wrath of Mara, and soon I will get a promotion!_

"Mahwah!" Typical of a demon, she laughed to herself a lot longer then needing to.  
However her plan was coming to fulfillment and it was only with the arrival of Skuld did she spot her final 'method' for gaining bad luck.  
"So, Skuld the twerp has arrived on campus. I suppose I should find out…"  
She giggled to herself again as she snuck closer to Skuld's location.

"Where is he?" Skuld lamented to herself. She gazed around the vicinity which was the exit/entrance to a series of classrooms in a 3 story building.  
Turning back to her right, she spied something Morisato.

"Keiichi!"

Keiichi on the other hand was on the lookout for two tall gentlemen (and he uses the term loosely for them) and possibly a three wheeled truck.  
So when he heard his named being called by a high pitched voice, child-like in tone, he could only think of one, two people it could be.  
"Oh, hey there Skuld, what brings you to--" He said as she approached him.

"_Ooooh_ Keiichi you idiot I've been looking all over for you!"

Keiichi held his arms up in defense and laughed nervously. "What, what did I do? I've been waiting her for around ten minutes anyway".  
A fumigation of anger appeared over Skuld's head but she quickly relapsed to contention. "Oh, right I needed to talk to you about your tools."  
"Hmm, Tools? Well aside from the repair kit in the BMW my tools are at Whirlwind…Is something wrong with them?"

Skuld held up her hand in a confident manner and grinned. "Nope, I just need to borrow them."  
Keiichi blinked."But you're Skuld, why do you need ...err… a mortal's wrenches and screwdrivers?"  
Skuld chuckled to herself at Keiichi's admission of her being 'Skuld', but she had more important things to take care of.

"Well… this morning right after you left I encountered a bug." Keiichi blinked in slight confusion. "What, you mean like a cockroach?"  
"No… it's a programming Bug. Anyway I was going to build something to ensure the bug would not return,  
but I need some tools as we seem to be out at the temple."

"It seems like it's your lucky day Skuld."

"Huh?"

"Well my Sempais have to drop off an entire extra toolset and they're going to do so at the temple, they should be by real—"

"MORISATO!" A loud yell, almost a war cry, enveloped the parking lot and drew their attention towards Tamiya sitting on top of a three wheeled truck.

"—Soon".


	9. Interlude II

"**Crossroads"**

By **Dark Nation**

-Chapter 09-

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Keiichi scratched his head at this predicament.

While the three wheeled, small truck was big enough (To Keiichi's surprise) to house all of the tools that his Sempais were giving to him,  
there remained the question as to how to transport those boxes to the temple.

"Uhh, Tamiya Sempai," Keiichi nervously pointed out "I don't there will be enough room on my BMW,even with the side car, to hold all of those boxes."

Tamiya and Ootaki huddled a few meters away and discussed something for a couple minutes,  
looking back at Keiichi and Skuld on occasion. Skuld was getting impatient at this.

"Keiichi, lets just transport them though my gateway method and be done with it!  
I need those tools, and the sooner, the better!"

"Well Skuld you realize that if you were to make a portal in a fountain or something  
you would get a LOT of weird looks and possibly get us all in trouble… and I doubt that the boxes are waterproof."  
Keiichi said as he felt on the boxes to get a feeling for their texture and material composition.

Before Skuld could counter his argument, the two auto club members rose up out of their huddle and sported wide grins,  
ones which Keiichi knew was a sign of either relief, or (more often for him), a difficult situation.

"Morisato! We have come up with a clever and easy solution!"  
Ootaki said with pride.

Tamiya continued, "That's right. Any other time, we'd uh, just go to your place and drop them all off…"

Ootaki continued where Tamiya left off: "but we have a meeting to attend with the Auto Club soon,  
so we devised this simple plan: Keiichi will take supplies in 3 trips,  
with Belldandy's little sister remaining here to keep watch on everything!"

While the four talked below, up above and about .4km away (A quarter mile) a figure lurched in a tree calmly.  
This figure without any notice picked up a nearby small cat and displaced it few meters higher  
with a quick throw as the adorable meow followed close behind. "Stupid animal".

This figure giggled evil-like at the sight of a 20-ish Japanese man and a shorter teenage girl situated next to a pile of boxes.  
This figure was Mara, the demoness which plagued the lives of Keiichi & Belldandy as well as their immediate family & friends.  
Looking up at the kitty she just removed from her surroundings, she smirked.

"Let's see you get out of this tree now, heheh".

Refocusing her attention on Keiichi and Skuld, Mara released a very tiny demon from a case she had on a second branch.  
The case featured other technology for demonizing, but none was needed except for what she took out.  
Winding up for a moment, she calculated the best trajectory and launched the demon high through the air at them.  
However this was not an attack demon, it was for sleuthing and reconnaissance, and so no mortal would ever see such a thing flying through the air.  
The thing resembled a lizard's bottom torso and in place of a head it featured a microphone and camera, combined as one 'head'.  
Notably, the demons were more or less upgrades of a demon Mara used when she previously spied on Bell & Co.

Mara picked up the included headphones as well as a small device, turning a sleek dial.  
It looked like a cross between a giger counter and an iPod, but with all the familiar trappings of demonTech,  
such as the Registration Number starting with 666, the iPod logo and name being cleverly replaced with something called "deathPod",  
and most oddly the manufacturer: "Produced by HFIL & Capsule Corp."

The demon landed on top of a light pole, attached itself to the pole, and focused in on Mara's targets.

"I HAVE a name you know!" Skuld shouted as they removed the boxes from the truck.  
Keiichi simply sweatdropped at his superior's lack of attention to detail and their ignorance of Skuld's complaint.  
That was a dangerous venture for any mortal or even **un-**mortal being.

Interjecting, Keiichi spoke aloud of his thoughts, "Skuld, I suppose if you're willing to wait here we can have everything taken over within,  
I'd say a half hour, give or take 10 minutes due to traffic and the train schedules…"  
Keiichi said half-way to Skuld, and half-way to himself.

"Well as I said before, it would be SOOO much easier if I just transported everything!"

Keiichi scratched his temple at the growing pile of boxes. "I'm starting to consider your idea,  
but we'd have to be really careful… and at least do it where no one could see us."  
Hearing that, Skuld's eyes lit up and quickly changed to a 'Genius-with-a-plan' stare.

"I got the perfect solution" Skuld boasted proudly.

Mara listened in via the Spy Demon and scoffed at the goddesses statement.  
"Not if I have anything to say about it…" She muttered to herself.

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Small Note: Sweat-dropping is a animation technique used in Japanese (And sometimes American) made Animations/Cartoons, where a large to small drop of sweat appears at the forehead, back of the head or side and denotes embarrassment, resentment, acknowledgement of an awkward moment, as well as Annoyance,  
Ex: "I can't believe she/he just said that". For a more complete definition, search on Google, wikipedia,  
or ask your nearest anime nerd about it.

2nd Note: The author does not own nor endorse an iPod, but go ahead and get one if you want.

Chapter 10 is next!


End file.
